Telling Tales

Even the judge was shocked. After listening to hours of testimony about
a multimillion-dollar drug-distribution network involving hired killers
with a penchant for chain saws, U.S. District Judge Milton Pollack
marveled that such iniquities "could be so coldbloodedly related." Yet
the tales so coolly told in court helped indict 44 major traffickers
and convict 16. The man doing the talking was Leroy ("Nicky") Barnes,
a.k.a. "Mr. Untouchable." Barnes fingered Frank James, his ex-partner
in drug dealing, for ordering his brother-in-law ice-picked to death.
James, said Barnes, employed a four-man...